In late January, we walked around Panama City streets jammed with young Catholics while wearing rainbow sashes and buttons, and carrying a sign that read “Faithful Catholics committed to full equality for LGBTQI persons.” We were a delegation from Equally Blessed, a coalition of three organizations committed to LGBTQI justice […]
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On Wednesday, February 27, at 8:30 PM ET, Equally Blessed will offer a free webinar, open to the public, for supporters and other interested people to hear from the Equally Blessed pilgrims who traveled to World Youth Day in Panama from January 21-27, 2019. The pilgrims, ages 23 through 33, […]
All my life, the only thing I ever wanted to do is work for the church. And for eight years, I did. Working in youth ministry, I eventually became the director of religious education for a low-income parish in Indianapolis primarily serving a Latino immigrant community. I thought I would […]
A 31-year-old, gay Washington man and federal employee just returned from Panama City, Panama where he attended the 16th annual World Youth Day Jan. 22-27. The Roman Catholic Church-sponsored gathering, started by Pope John Paul II in 1985, is held every two-three years at various international locales. Keith Hall, a […]
DignityUSA, a group that works to gain respect for LGBTQ people in the Catholic Church, has stood up for Bianco in the wake of his resignation. Executive director Marianne Duddy-Burke saw his case as “a predictable albeit extreme response to the Catholic hierarchy’s dehumanizing teachings about gay people.” “There should […]
When Antonio Aaron Bianco arrived for work at his Roman Catholic church office on a recent Monday morning, he was rattled to discover that someone had broken into the conference room and spray-painted a message in large yellow letters on the wall. It said “No Fags.” For Mr. Bianco, a […]
Five years ago, Pope Francis grabbed international headlines when he responded to a reporter’s in-flight question about gay priests by saying, “If someone is gay and seeks the Lord with good will, who am I to judge?” Media outlets, LGBT activists, and Catholics around the world speculated about whether this […]
Equally Blessed coordinator John Freml was recently featured in the “Welcoming All Families” campaign by the Center for American Progress. This includes a feature on CAP’s blog entitled, “Anti-LGBTQ Discrimination Took a Foster Child From Her Loving Foster Dads” and a mention in a new CAP report produced in partnership […]
Marianne Duddy-Burke, who heads DignityUSA, an organization that focuses on gay rights within the Catholic Church, said these groups have been emboldened by Trump, who “has legitimized attacks against entire groups of people and these people are following his example to go after gay Catholics.” And they’re not just casting […]
Six young Roman Catholics are preparing for a journey to Panama, to attend the Vatican-sponsored World Youth Day 2019, where they will bring a message that the church must treat lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI) people with respect and advocate for their welfare. The pilgrims, ages 23 […]